Seventh Circuit weighs challenge to Illinois highway license plate cameras

A Seventh Circuit panel heard arguments Tuesday over whether Illinois's network of 807 license plate cameras, 402 of them in Cook County, constitutes an unconstitutional warrantless search. The cameras captured nearly 274 million license plate images last month alone, generating over 7 million matches against law enforcement 'hot lists,' with data stored for up to 90 days without a warrant.

Plaintiffs Stephanie Scholl and Frank Bednarz argue the continuous capture amounts to dragnet surveillance akin to the cell-tower tracking the Supreme Court found unconstitutional in Carpenter v. United States. The state's attorney countered that drivers have no expectation of privacy in a license plate visible on a public highway, and a district court already dismissed the case, finding the initial photo capture is not a search.

Judges pressed both sides on where exactly the alleged violation occurs: at the moment of capture, or when the database is later searched. The plaintiffs' attorney could not give the panel a clear answer before his argument time ran out.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.